Guest Designer at Word Art Wednesday

I'm happy to be guesting at WAW this month. 

I stenciled and stamped The Greetery's Peaceful Olive in Altenew Toasted Mauve, Frayed Leaf, Forest Glades and PTI Plum Pudding.  Had to add some purple splatters!  I used matching cardstock to mat the verse.  Almost left it as was, but decided to add Poppystamps Layered Lovely Flowers die cut from vellum, inked on the back with Plum Pudding and embellished with a tiny gem. 

You can find all the challenge details at Word Art Wednesday.  Hope to see you in the gallery.

Thanks so much for taking time to stop by.  If your blog address is in your profile or comment, I will visit you.

Greta

Caffeinated Christmas Guest Designer

I'm delighted to be one of the July Guest Designers for the Caffeinated Christmas Challenge.  This month's theme is Stars to use with coffee, tea or cocoa.  Don't forget, we want to see a Christmas card, not just one for winter.

I had so much fun stamping the background for my coffee cup that is probably filled with a peppermint mocha!  The stamp sets I used are all from Precious Remembrance Shop & the inks are Memento.  

I stamped the tree from Oh Christmas in Cottage Ivy, the date from Sketchy Christmas & dots from Fall Colors in Rhubarb Stalk and the sentiment from Oh Christmas in Rich Cocoa.  Then I embossed the panel with Tim Holtz Tiny Stars Texture Fade folder.  The travel cup from Coffee Love was stamped in Espresso Truffle & then Versamark so I could use clear embossing powder.  I colored it with Copics G07 & R29, purposely not blending away the horizontal lines.  The top was colored with Rich Cocoa & the image was fussy cut.  The big star from CAS-ual Fridays & the little stars from Jillibean Soup were colored with the Copics.  I added an extra cardstock layer behind the cup & inked the card front with Espresso Truffle.  Always good to have another Christmas card ready ahead of time!  Hope you'll join the challenge which is sponsored by A Colorful Life Designs. 

Edited to add: I'm entering Inkspirational's Christmas in July challenge, SSS Wednesday & WAW.

Thanks so much for taking time to stop by.  If your blog address is in your profile or comment, I will visit you.

Guest Designing at Time Out Challenges

                                                       

I'm so honored to have been a winner at Time Out Challenges & to be guest designing with the talented team.  It's time for Inspired by Words and here's the quote from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens.  "It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade."  

I decided to make a scene with the sun shining while snow can still be seen in areas on the ground & the trees have green showing amidst the snow.  

I stamped & die cut the trees from PTI Enchanted Forest.  The snowy layer was made with Stampendous Puff & Sparkle embossing powder which gives great texture along with sparkle.  I also embossed the edge of my MFT snowdrift using the same powder.  The pictures don't capture how pretty it is.

I used a circle mask I made from a die & blended Distress Oxides in blues plus a bit of aged mahogany for my winter sky.  The sun was done with squeezed lemonade.  It didn't look wintry enough, so I decided to try giving it a light wash of white gouache.  Figured I might have to start over, but it actually gave just the look I wanted!  The mat is PTI Dark Indigo & I used the matching ink to stamp the sentiment from PTI Friendly Flowers.

Hope I've inspired you to join the gallery.  Top Flight Stamps is sponsoring the challenge.  The winner will get a $25.00 gift voucher to spend at Top Flight's store & an offer to Guest Design for a future challenge.  

Thanks so much for taking time to stop by.  If your blog address is in your profile or comment, I will visit you.

Guest Designing for Tic Tac Toe Challenge 173

I'm honored to be Guest Designing for TTTC #173.  Here's the fun board with lots of great options.

My card uses the top horizontal line of Stencil, Frame It, Sparkle.  I recently got a few bottles of WOW Embossing powder & boy do they sparkle!  To start, I inked an unlabeled stencil with Versamark & then randomly added 3 different powders, one at a time, & used my heat gun.  The colors are BEE True, Persian Indigo & Vintage Peacock.  I wanted to see what would happen if I added transluscent Spring Breeze powder over the top.  It definitely muted the colors, but was still really pretty & sparkly.  I decided the best thing to do was to use the panel for diecutting.  The stencil design made me think of balloons, so I used an old Winnie & Walter die.  The little bow in the set was heat embossed in Persian Indigo.  

I die cut a PTI Pierced Feature Frame Rectangle from white cardstock twice to give it a bit of dimension.  Then I figured out where to place the balloon on the Soft Stone panel so that it would be in the corner of the frame.  The sentiment from a very old INKADINKADO set was stamped in Versafine Clair Morning Mist. 

The sparkle & shine as you tilt the card in the light is really beautiful!  Even the little bow sparkles.  Hope I've inspired you to pick a line and play along.  I'm entering SSS Monday & SSS Wednesday.

Thanks so much for taking time to stop by. If your blog address is in your profile or comment, I will visit you.

Guest Designing at Poppystamps

I'm so honored to be Tiffany's Guest Designer for the July Poppystamps Challenge.  The theme is Over the Rainbow & I began by ink smooshing 6 watercolor panels using Distress Inks fired brick/barn door, ripe persimmon/carved pumpkin, lucky clover/twisted citron, faded jeans/blueprint sketch, dusty concord/wilted violet and squeezed lemonade/scattered straw/fossilized amber.

Then I die cut Poppystamps Potpourri Flower Set (a single die that cuts out 7 flowers) from each panel, keeping each color in a separate stack. I decided on which 3 images to layer, pulled them out, attached them in the center & gently lifted each petal. White on white makes a great background for colorful images, so I die cut Poppystamps Lattice Small Curve Border twice from white cardstock & attached them at the top & bottom of the card front. It looked pretty with the flowers, but decided I needed leaves.  Poppystamps Orchard Leaves were die cut from white cardstock scraps & arranged behind the flowers. I love the font of Poppystamps Luscious Script Hello & it includes a shadow.

I used black glossy cardstock for the word & Memory Box silver glitter cardstock from the Holiday Glitter Pad for the shadow.  Tiny black enamel dots in the flower centers tie it all together.  I send lots of cards just to keep in touch, so this one will soon be in the mail.  I hope I've inspired you to check out the July Poppystamps challenge. 

There's lots of great inspiration from the DT & a gift certificate up for grabs.  Thanks so much, Poppystamps, for having me design with the team this month!  

I'm entering SSS Wednesday & WAW.   

Thanks so much for taking time to stop by.  If your blog address is in your profile or comment, I will visit you.

Guest Designer for TTTC 118

I'm honored to be guesting at TTTC for Challenge Number 118.  Why not check out the wonderful board & join in the fun.

I chose Friendship, Free (Stenciled blooms & buds), Any shape die.  There's a new Canadian Stamp Company called Pigment Craft & I was recently one of the lucky gift certificate winners.  I chose the Stamp/Stencil/Die set called Frame Builder Hello.  

I stamped the leaves in PTI Green Parakeet a couple times & die cut the frame before using the stencils for the blooms & buds.  The blooms are inked with PTI Berry Sorbet & the buds with Bright Buttercup.  The leaf veins were stamped in PTI Prairie Grass & the bloom details were stamped in PTI Pure Poppy.  I added some white gel pen dots & stacked the frame 4 high.  PTI Gathered Garden leafy branches were stamped in New Leaf on a New Leaf cardstock panel before I glued on the frame.  The sentiment die cut & words are from PTI Scripted.  

The words were stacked 2 high, inked lightly with New Leaf & covered with Shimmer Pico Embellisher.  I stamped the little sentiment in Prairie Grass & added a variety of green sequins.  Hope I've inspired you to play along in the challenge.  

I'm entering SSS Monday & WAW. 

Thanks so much for taking time to stop by.  If your blog address is in your profile or comment, I will visit you.

Guest Designing for TTTC100

I'm so happy to be guest designing again for the Tic Tac Toe Challenge.  This is challenge #100 & I think you'll really like the board!  Lots of options to make an Easter/Spring card, if you want.  

Yellow is not really one of my colors, but I do like to use it for Spring cards.  I chose the diagonal row of Yellow, Free (I used die cuts) & Gingham.  I looked up gingham & learned that it is white & one other color with evenly placed horizontal & vertical lines of equal size.  

I didn't have any printed paper that qualified, which is actually good since it made me finally use my W&W Ticking Stripe stencil.  After using Pixie Spray (really does make a difference, in my opinion) I applied Distress Oxide fossilized amber with a sponge applicator.  The stencil has big stripes, so I just turned it & applied again to make the pattern.  If you know me, you know I love wreaths.  I honestly don't know how many stamps, dies & stencils I have!  However, that didn't stop me from buying Tim Holtz Funky Wreath die set when a local craft store put it on sale over the holidays & shipped it for free!  I started by ink blending Distress Oxides/Inks on strips of Bristol paper.  One had DO rustic wilderness & twisted citron.  The other had DI vintage photo & frayed burlap.  Then I die cut the twig wreath from the brown panel & the leafy wreath from the green one.  

The die set also includes some extra branches, so I die cut a few from the green scraps & added them for a bit more fullness. The W&W hello die was cut multiple times & glued together. I added Golden Rod Stickles to the word & arranged the MFT rolled roses die cut from felt.    

Thanks so much for taking time to stop by.  If your blog address is in your profile or comment, I will visit you.

Guest Designer at Twofer Card Challenge

I'm delighted to be guest designing for Twofer Card Challenge #35.  It just so happens I'm drawn to balloon images, although I don't seem to use them very often.

Some time ago, a friend passed on to me an old Neat & Tangled set called Just for You.  I had so much fun using the balloons from the set for 2 completely different cards.  In case you haven't played before, here are the card requirements.

Here's a picture of my 2 cards together.  Be sure you enter one photo of both your cards in the linky.  All the rules can be found on the challenge blog.

I began by creating the birthday card using my MISTI.  The outlines & strings were stamped in Versafine Clair Morning Mist.  The balloons were stamped in Distress Inks candied apple, abandoned coral, fossilized amber, lucky clover & mermaid lagoon.  

For the sentiment I die cut MFT Block Happy Birthday.  I stacked the letters a couple high & colored each letter of "happy" with the ink matching the balloon it was attached to.  I left the word "birthday" white & attached it to a black strip. 

To make it more festive, I added Stardust Stickles to each balloon--so pretty in the light.  The red mat was made by blending candied apple on the edges of a white panel. 

My second card is very CAS.  I stamped the balloon without the outline 3 times in candied apple--allowing just a bit of overlapping.  Recently I saw some cards that had balloons without strings, so thought I'd give it a try.  

The sentiment stamped in Versafine Clair Nocturne is in a very old, unlabeled MFT set.  I added 3 tiny Gina K black heart embellishments & rounded the corners.  Decided against splatters or glitter & I do like the fresh, clean look.

I'd love to see you join the gallery for this fun challenge.  Maybe you've got an unused balloon image that needs some love!

Thanks so much for taking time to stop by.  If your blog address is in your profile or comment, I will visit you.

Tic Tac Toe Guest Designer

I'm so honored to be the Guest Designer for Tic Tac Toe Challenge #070.  Here's the board we're using & hope you'll play along.

There are several options I considered using, but in the end I choose the bottom row of Summer, Bird & Sparkle. 

The bird & sparkle are pretty obvious.  In case you're wondering how I included summer, the SSS bird die is called Bird of Roses & roses are a summer flower where I live.  Secondly, I used what I consider to be summer colors represented by PTI inks New Leaf, Green Parakeet, Melon Berry & Bright Buttercup.  I first used the green inks with the Altenew Wonderful Wreath stencil.  The berries are included in the center of the stencil, so you can put them wherever you want or leave them off.  I added the cluster of 3 using Melon Berry ink.  The bird was die cut a couple times & glued together.  Then I drew around the die so I could cut a solid area with my scissors to color & back the bird.  The decorative top was inked in Bright Buttercup & the solid piece in Melon Berry.  Both were covered in White Blizzard Nuvo Drops which I used like glitter glue & also added to the berries.

For the solid piece, I spread it with an old credit card like using embossing paste.  The sparkle is really beautiful in real life.  I decided the bird needed more than the wreath to perch on, so I first added some Elizabeth Craft branches inked in the 2 greens.  The sentiment from Altenew Floral Frame was stamped in New Leaf & I added yellow splatters using a Zig watercolor marker.  I have several summer birthday cards to send & this one will be mailed soon.  You'll find lots of inspiration from the DT.  I'm entering SSS Wednesday.

Thanks so much for taking time to stop by.  If your blog address is in your profile or comment, I will visit you.